Lufthansa advertising with alleged CO2 compensation inadmissible
Flying with a clear conscience and offsettingCO2 by making a financial contribution to climate protection projects. According to the Cologne Regional Court, Deutsche Lufthansa AG may no longer use certain misleading advertising messages of this kind. Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has won an important victory against misleading advertising by the airline.
The Cologne Regional Court followed the DUH's argument that the company's compensation and reduction promise was untenable (Ref. 84 O 29/24). Lufthansa has thus violated the statutory prohibition of misleading statements. The ruling was issued on March 21 and is not yet legally binding.
DUH Managing Director Jürgen Resch explained in a press release: "The judgment of the Cologne Regional Court is one of the clearest and therefore most important that we have been able to achieve since the beginning of our legal proceedings against consumer deception and greenwashing. The court confirms our criticism and addresses how one of the world's largest airlines systematically deceives customers and pretends that air travel is climate-neutral in exchange for additional fees."
"Air travel is one of the most serious in terms of its impact on the climate. Selling a clear conscience in exchange for indulgences is therefore particularly reprehensible"
Jürgen Resch, DUH Federal Managing Director
The reasons for the ruling state, among other things, that the consumer (...) is left in the dark as to how this compensation is to be carried out and to what extent in relation to the specific flight booked or to be booked. Furthermore, there is also a lack of clarity about the calculation of theCO2 emissions of the flight booking and their share of climate damage, the DUH quotes the judgment. In the opinion of the Chamber, this suggests to the consumer that he can essentially make his flight climate-neutral with his payment, which is indisputably not true.
At the end of last year, the DUH was already able to obtain a conviction of the subsidiary Eurowings for similar misleading behavior before the Cologne Higher Regional Court.
